Bluetooth, on the other hand, supports a much wider variety of usage scenarios, including:

Bluetooth, on the other hand, supports a much wider variety of usage scenarios, including:
• Device interoperability (also known as cable replacement);
• Peer-to-peer collaboration between multiple PDAs and/or notebooks;
• Notebook and PDA internet access via mobile phone;
• PDA, notebook and PC LAN and Internet access via Bluetooth access points.

DEVICE INTEROPERABILITY :
The first scenario provides the fundamental basis for the development of the Bluetooth specification. It is, quite simply, the seamless interconnection of multiple Bluetooth-enabled devices that eliminates the need for cables to connect the devices. The most obvious example is a PC connected wirelessly to all of its peripheral devices. Not only are cables eliminated but the user also can place the peripheral wherever he wishes without regard for cable length. Since Bluetooth supports both voice and data, a single Bluetooth headset can be used in conjunction with multiple consumer and communication devices such as a desk phone, a mobile phone, and a portable music player. The need for separate cables and device-specific headsets is eliminated.

PEER-TO-PEER COLLABORATION :
Bluetooth enables devices that are in close proximity to form ad hoc networks, also known as piconets.
The Piconet

Bluetooth devices can interact with one or more other Bluetooth devices in several different ways. The simplest scheme is when only two devices are involved. This is referred to as point-to-point. One of the devices acts as the master and the other as a
slave. This adhoc network is referred to as a Piconet.
As a matter of fact, a Piconet is any such Bluetooth network with one master 2 and one or more slaves. A diagram of a Piconet is provided in the adjoining figure. In the case of multiple slaves, the communication topology is referred to as point-to-multipoint. In this case, the channel (and bandwidth) is shared among all the devices in the Piconet. There can be up to seven active slaves in a Piconet. Each of the active slaves has an assigned 3-bit Active Member address. There can be additional slaves, which remain synchronized to the master, but do not have an Active Member address. These slaves are not active and are referred to as parked. For the case of both active and parked units, all channel access is regulated by the master. A parked device has an 8-bit Parked Member Address, thus limiting the number of parked members to 256. A parked device remains synchronized to the master clock and can quickly become active and begin communicating in the Piconet.